I wouldn't go as far as to say it was a referendum on Obama. I think they're still willing to give him a chance, or at the very least, unwilling to admit a mistake. I will state that Obama is inviting that particular line of attack, however; he did campaign heavily for both Deeds and Corzine.

On the flip side of that, however, particularly in Virginia, the voters rejected the state Democratic party with losses by wide margins in three statewide races and the loss of seven seats in the House of Delegates. My completely unprovable theory is this: the voters, at least in Virginia, punished their state Democratic party as a proxy for what's happening both in their home state and nationally. You wouldn't expect a 20 point swing among the overall electorate and a 2-1 gap among independents just a year after major Democratic victories if there wasn't some serious dissatisfaction with the state of affairs nationally as well as locally. That happened in both NJ and VA. Remember, VA in particular, is in the DC media market. They get bombarded with national news and they get to see all of the BS from that cesspool first hand.

We'll see, I suppose.


[edit on 4-11-2009 by vor78]

i think it is obama that is the deciding factor. him and everyone who swoons over him.

this coming from abc? could have guessed it without even looking.

of course theres a republican movement. all the republicans who are out working to pay for all the lazy people in america, now have to govern too!

just when you thought it was in decent hands... they go and screw up EVERYTHING!

As much as Obama-ites are declaring this election as not anything to do with Obama, the simple truth is that yes it is the economy that is driving people to vote, but they ARE voting for Republicans... not Democrats. Obama has to take some of this blame, and he'll have to take ownership of the economy by the next election...no more blaming Bush. If the economy doesnt turn around by then, there will be sweeping changes and we'll have the GOP to yell at and blame once again, lol.